LAX Shuttle - to San Pedro (Lotus Transporation?)

[kbalthaser66]

Hello, we are flying in (LAX - carryon luggage only) the day of our cruise (Thursday) with our flight arriving at 11:00 am. We are thinking of booking with Lotus Transportation - has anyone every used them before and if so are they reliable? Since we don't have the luxury of 6 hours before our cruise we want to make sure that we can get to the cruise on time.

[jvsnana]

Hi…I posted my answer on the other thread, but I will post here too:)

 

 

We used Lotus once and they were terrible.

While the driver showed up on time, he was there in a beat up van which was dirty, smelled like smoke and had torn seats. We reserved a sedan, but he said someone else was using it.

We called the owner and told him we did not get what was advertised and he was rude and condescending. Needless to say, we told him we would dispute any charges to our credit card…he never did charge the card…

This trip we are using ExecuCar from San Pedro port to Marriott LAX in Business Express for $57. I found a promo code online (I can't for the life of me remember what it was) and it saved $3.00 You won't see the price drop confirmed until you go through the whole booking process though…before you pay.

Hoping this experience will be better!

______

[kbalthaser66]

Thanks for the heads up. I will not be booking Lotus. I greatly appreciate your relaying your experience with us.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We had a more worse problem with Prime Time Shuttle. We had booked a pick up from our house (about 50 miles from San Pedro) to go to the port and two weeks later for a pickup from the port to be driven back home. I even got a confirmation via email with the correct info. On the day of our cruise, we were wondering where the van was. I called and was told the driver was waiting "at the harbor" to pick us up. I said no, the van was supposed to be at our house. Finally another van had to be re-routed to our area.

 

Two weeks later, we got off the ship and went to the shuttle island. I gave our name to the curbside rep for PT, even showed him the confirming email that I had printed out after I'd booked. Nope, our name wasn't on his list. Among the other problems he was dealing with (such as wrong sized vehicle for another party), he called his office and told the woman about us. She insisted that we were supposed to be at our house as the driver was outside our house waiting for us. He said "no, they're wait here next to me." I swear she actually argued with him -- I was standing close enough to him to hear her side of the conversation. Finally he arranged for a vehicle to come pick us up which came about an hour after we had gotten off the ship. When we got home, I called their customer service number and got to voice mail, and never got a return call. Sent an email. No response. Finally sent another email saying I'd be getting in touch with the credit card company. Then, I got a reply, but it was for a refund of a quarter of our fare.

 

Last December I booked with On-Time. The vehicle actually got there about ten minutes early. We had pleasant drivers for both ways. But to me, the important thing was that they sent the vehicles to the right locations both times.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've used Super Shuttle twice with no problems BUT, in your situation I would reserve some kind of private car pick-up, as your time frame to get to the ship is fairly tight.

 

If a cruise line transfer will pick you up that late, I'd even say go with them (and we never use cruise transfers) as you should then be sure of getting to the ship.

[Donray]

We had a more worse problem with Prime Time Shuttle. We had booked a pick up from our house (about 50 miles from San Pedro) to go to the port and two weeks later for a pickup from the port to be driven back home. I even got a confirmation via email with the correct info. On the day of our cruise' date=' we were wondering where the van was. I called and was told the driver was waiting "at the harbor" to pick us up. I said no, the van was supposed to be at our house. Finally another van had to be re-routed to our area.

 

Two weeks later, we got off the ship and went to the shuttle island. I gave our name to the curbside rep for PT, even showed him the confirming email that I had printed out after I'd booked. Nope, our name wasn't on his list. Among the other problems he was dealing with (such as wrong sized vehicle for another party), he called his office and told the woman about us. She insisted that we were supposed to be at our house as the driver was outside our house waiting for us. He said "no, they're wait here next to me." I swear she actually argued with him -- I was standing close enough to him to hear her side of the conversation. Finally he arranged for a vehicle to come pick us up which came about an hour after we had gotten off the ship. When we got home, I called their customer service number and got to voice mail, and never got a return call. Sent an email. No response. Finally sent another email saying I'd be getting in touch with the credit card company. Then, I got a reply, but it was for a refund of a quarter of our fare.

 

Last December I booked with On-Time. The vehicle actually got there about ten minutes early. We had pleasant drivers for both ways. But to me, the important thing was that they sent the vehicles to the right locations both times.[/quote']

 

Another bitch from a worker at Supper Shuttle. How many time has this been posted? 1000?

 

Both Prime Time and Super Shuttle have complaints. I have had a problem with both.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Another bitch from a worker at Supper Shuttle. How many time has this been posted? 1000?

 

Both Prime Time and Super Shuttle have complaints. I have had a problem with both.

 

Methinks you're an employee at PT as you always seem to be defending it. I have no connection whatsoever with any transportation companies. Considering this is a forum in which we give our recommendations based on our positive and negative experience, I pass along the poor customer service I'd received from that company in good faith. If they had messed up with just one end of my booking, I may have considered that an "one-off," but making the same mistake twice in a two week period? That's inexcusable!

[kenish]

OP- What I recommend is going on a site like Yelp or Tripadvisor. I noticed that Lotus is very polarized with few middle of the road / OK experiences. You can draw your own conclusions after looking at Super Shuttle or Primetime...both have some horror stories but it's the broad average and general flavor that provide guidance.

[Keith1010]

Hello, we are flying in (LAX - carryon luggage only) the day of our cruise (Thursday) with our flight arriving at 11:00 am. We are thinking of booking with Lotus Transportation - has anyone every used them before and if so are they reliable? Since we don't have the luxury of 6 hours before our cruise we want to make sure that we can get to the cruise on time.

 

Oh, I don't like hearing about flights the day of the cruise.

 

So risky.

 

Don't book a shuttle.

 

Book a private vehicle.

 

Consider Execucar which is a subsidiary of Super Shuttle.

 

Web site is http://www.execucar.com

 

There are just so many things that can go wrong flying the day of the cruise that are even out of the airlines control.

 

Anyway, I would use a private car service.

 

Keith